Tom Sebourn is the Program Director of KGOE 1480 am Newstalk in Eureka California. The opinions and views expressed in this blog do not necessarily represent those of KGOE or it's parent company Bicoastal Media LLC.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Military Recruiting at Schools -RE Post

The Army Times is reporting that the Defense Department has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs. Under rules that will take effect April 28th 2008, defense officials said they want the exact same access to student directories that is provided to all other prospective employers. The Army Times says, students can opt out of having their information turned over to the military only if they opt out of having their information provided to all other recruiters, but schools cannot have policies that exclude only the military, defense officialls said in a March 28 notice of the new policy in the Federal Register. The new policy also no longer lets schools ban military recruiters from working on campuses soley because a school determines that no students have expressed interest in joining the military. If other employers are invited, the military has to have the same access. Federal funding can be cut off if colleges and universities do not give recruiters and ROTC programs campus access. While student financial assistance is not at resk, ohter federal aid, especially research funding, can disappear if a school does not cooperate. Here's a link to the Army Times story: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_recruiters_schools_033108w/ Locally, Dave Meserve is circulating petitions called the Arcata Youth Protection Act and the Eureka Youth Protection Act. AN ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT THE MILITARY RECRUITMENT OF ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. Since these would be passed by the voters and not the school boards, this new military policy would seem to be exempt from cities that pass such ordinances by popular vote. Find out more about Dave Meserve's ordinances here: http://homepage.mac.com/juanwilson/islandbreath/2008Year/17-peace_war/0817-04BanRecruiting.html How do you feel about recruiting kids under the age of 18?